Monthly Archives: December 2018

Many older deaf people share tales of how their deafnesswere discovered by hearing parents. Examples werenot hearing firecrackers, not hearing loud rock bands,not hearing banging of the kitchen pots, etc. Hearingscreening tests has pretty much made discoveriesearlier and easier!

— federal marshals bully a deaf-blind airline traveler

A deaf-blind man, who was physically big, was seated inthe first class section in a Delta (again) airline.After the plane took off, he tried to lower his seatso he could relax on the trip. Two angry federal marshals,seated behind him, pushed him back three times, refusingto allow him to lower his seat. After the third time, heprotested with the flight hostess. As a result, themarshals continued to harass him. The passenger fileda lawsuit against the USA government and with the DeltaAirlines. So far, the courts have sided with thedeaf-blind passenger.

— a big honor for a past New Zealand deaf MP

Mojo Mathers, who is deaf, is a past member of New ZealandParliament. She was one of four people in her homearea to be named to the 2019 New Year’s Honors List.This honor is reserved for individuals who have doneso much to help improve conditions in New Zealand.

A deaf advoucate ran a head count of state commissionsserving the deaf and hard of hearing and came up with35 states. That means 15 states, plus the District ofColumbia lack such a commission. Do keep in mind thatof these 35 such commissions, no two commissionsfunction the same. Some are powerful; some arepowerless, and so on.

— theater glasses better than hearing ears

Are theater “captioned” glasses better thanhearing ears? It was said that these glassesare so pre-programmed that if a stage actoraccidentally skips his lines, the glasseswould capture it all – something that hearingears couldn’t! That would mean deaf theatergoersare ahead of the hearing.

— a frustrated deaf music lover

A deaf man said that he was not allowed to play theviolin as a child because of his deafness. This isa puzzling comment. There have always been a number ofdeaf people that love music and would play differentkinds of instruments. There are questions – did themainstreamed program block him from taking musicclasses. Did his parents say no to his interestin music? Did music school instructors refuseto teach him music?

A deaf prisoner was punished in a prison in Georgia.She did not wake up and show up for a prisonerattendance roll call. She protested, saying the prisonofficials would not allow her to own a wake up alarmclock. And besides no other prisoners would botherto wake her up to help make it to the roll call!

— wrong description of a deaf play

A hearing critic watched a deaf play (helped bystage interpreters). He wrote a review that wastitled:

wordless play by deaf performers

This description is wrong. Deaf plays are neverwordless; use of ASL plus use of interpretersare both not wordless.

— deaf interview different from hearing interview

According to a TV reporter, interview with a deaf personis diffrent from interviewing a hearing person. Hearinginterviews are routine and commonplace, but a deafinterview brings out different feelings. A TVreporter said it was a different experience.

In a newspaper interview with ASL teacher, hesaid that most of his hearing students, wouldat one time or other, in their lives, bumpinto a deaf person. True or not true? Therehave been many, many hearing people that havenever met a deaf person in their lives.This is different from a family member thatis deaf, or a fellow employee that is deafor a next door neighbor that is deaf ora deaf teammate on a hearing sports team,and so on.

— #1 priority with deaf needs

What is the #1 priority with these deaf needs?Is it education, employment, interpreting, accessto services, etc? Or is it captions for TV andmovies? This was the issue a deaf leader broughtup in a newspaper interview.

— best interpreters in a rural state

A deaf leader (in a rural state) said that hisinterpreters are the best. DeafDigest hopes it istrue because many rural towns have problems keepingtheir interpreters. They move to bigger cities wherethey feel interpreting opportunities are better.